Wish You Were Here
by runawaygravity
Summary: The story of Booth's time in Afghanistan.  Companion to Home Will Always Be Where The Heart Is
1. Baba O'Riley

_Hey guys! This is the Booth-centric companion to Home Will Always Be Where The Heart Is. I will, again, update on Sundays. Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

Now look.

I've known Doctor Temperance Brennan for six and a half years now.

I know almost everything about her, even things she hasn't told me.

I know how much she missed her family for the fourteen years she lost them. I know how much it hurt when she found out her mother was dead, and how hard she tried to keep her father with her. Every day, I could see her struggling to fit into this world, and to show her feelings to the ones she loves. She certainly knew how to show the ones she didn't like how she felt about them, but I think that was in self defence.

For six and a half years, I've known that I love her.

_For six and a half goddamn years._

The whole moving on thing was my version of her self defence.

The whole moving on thing is bullshit.


	2. Dream A Little Dream Of Me

_June_

_

* * *

_

_It kills me not to know this,  
But I've all but just forgotten  
What the color of her eyes were  
__And her scars, or how she got them  
As the telling signs of age rain down,  
A single tear is dropping__  
Through the valleys of an aging face  
That this world has forgotten_

_-Saviour, Rise Against_

_

* * *

_

Sleep came fitfully for the soldier. The sounds of combat kept him from falling too deep, and it wasn't long before he acquired grey bags under his brown eyes. His sun-browned skin hid them as well as it could, but it didn't stop his students from giving him curious glances when they knew he wasn't paying attention.

The conditions were much like they had been during his last tour; sandy food, sweaty tents, and fear thinly veiled under masks of comradery. The looks on the boys' faces gave him the chills - smiling despite the fact that they could be the ones going home in flag-draped pine boxes.

When he did get sleep, the dreams that came stomped upon his already-shredded heart. Glimpses of her; her eyes, her hair, her laugh, her voice. He was supposed to be getting over her, not dreaming of her, and it was all getting to be too much for him to handle.

* * *

_1000 miles away_  
_There's nothing left to say_  
_But so much left that I don't know_  
_We never had a choice_


	3. Somebody To Love

_July_

_

* * *

_

_Young teacher, the subject_  
_Of schoolgirl fantasy_  
_She wants him so badly_  
_Knows what she wants to be_  
_Inside her there's longing_  
_This girl's an open page__  
_

_-The Police, Don't Stand So Close To Me_

_

* * *

_

After a while, everyone looks pretty much the same. The desert sun can turn even the palest, softest skin brown and dry within a few weeks, and there's no way to keep it from going that way.

Booth winced as the sand stung his cracked lips, and ran a hand through his short hair in a futile attempt to dislodge the sand that had layered upon his skin.

"Hey, Sarge."

He glanced up at the blonde as she settled against the tent with him. He knew that if he had met her six years ago, they'd have already been together for a while. She was his type - blonde hair, blue eyes, skinny and pretty smart - but he shied away from her constant flirting. As much as he tried to make himself like her, he couldn't.

"Hey, Hannah. Is something going on in there?" He smirked a little at the raucous noise of the boys behind the canvas wall.

She smiled sweetly, and shook her head. "No, just the game. You know what it's like. But that's not what I came out here for; your son's on the phone." Hannah watched as Booth's eyes lit up at the prospect of talking to his son again, and her eyes followed him as he all but ran towards the media center.

He was everything she wanted in a man- strong, caring, loved kids, hot body, and beautiful eyes. Hannah hoped that he saw her in his future, 'cause she certainly saw him in hers.


	4. Crazy Little Thing Called Love

_August_

_

* * *

_

He felt her eyes on him everywhere he went. Currently, they were in an armoured Jeep trundling down a desert road, and he shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. He wasn't the type to be mean when turning girls down, but she just didn't take any hints, and it was looking like his only option.

"Hey Sarge," she purred, placing her hand on his arm. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

Booth stared at her for a moment before giving her the last (hopefully successful) hint.

"My girl. Back in Washington, Temperance Brennan. Maybe you've heard of her? We've been together for five years, and I've loved her since the day we met. Most beautiful woman I've ever seen." He flashed Hannah a cocky grin and pulled out his wallet. He passed her the picture of the two of them, a candid, shot in the lab between cases by Angela.

He remembered it well.

Brennan had been engrossed in a body from limbo, beaming as she'd explained the apparent significance of what she had found. The techno babble had gone in one ear and out the other, but he could never forget the look of childlike awe and excitement on her face as she spoke. Angela popped her head up from behind Hodgins' workspace (God knows what they were doing back there - Booth certainly didn't want to ask) and demanded a photo. Brennan leaned over and wrapped her arm around his waist. He barely managed to glance back over and paste a happy grin on his face before the shutter closed. It'd been four years since the photo had been taken, and he'd carried it with him everyday.

The look on Hannah's face told him everything he needed to know. She wouldn't be after him anymore.

He took the photo back from her hands, and tucked it lovingly back into his vest.

"I love her."

* * *

_Picture in question is one I came across a long time ago on DeviantArt - _browse .deviantart .com/?qh=§ion;=&global=1&q=bones+notebook#/d1vcimk _without spaces._


	5. Brown Eyed Girl

_September_

_

* * *

_

_I hate where I'm at_  
_Actin' crazy like that_  
_I know that I've been wrong_  
_It's something I've been working on_  
_-Jealousy, Darren Criss_

* * *

He loved summertime. It was when he could relax and spend time throwing a football around with Parker for hours on end, and drink gallons of lemonade. But he loved winter most of all. He loved when the sun went down at 5 o'clock, when he could bury himself in a flyers blanket and drink hot chocolate just because he felt like it. The Christmases with Parker were the best, and he knew he'd always treasure the days they had together.

That's why he hated the desert. The hottest days you could ever imagine, and the coldest nights, colder than he'd ever experienced anywhere else. Also, the freakish weather played with his head, drawing out odd dreams and horrific nightmares.

As he reluctantly shuffled to his cot, his mind wandered to thoughts of the Jeffersonian, and more specifically, Brennan. Booth quickly shook his head to rid himself of the images, hoping to relieve the curious dreams that had plagued him since he arrived. Unfortunately, it wouldn't help.

* * *

_"Daddy?" A pair of little eyes peeked over the edge of his desk, tiny fingers grasping the dark wood._

_"Yes, Delia?" Booth dropped his pen on the stack of paperwork from his latest case, glad to have a distraction from the mindless blither he had to write for a body that hadn't actually been a body. Some idiot kids thought it'd be funny to cover a fake skeleton in pig blood and drop it off in front of the Hoover._

_The little girl grinned, brown eyes sparkling with mischief. "Mama wants to see you. And she said your name the way she does when you don't put your socks away."_

_"So I'm in trouble, huh?"_

_"Yep. And she said to tell you to run. Or else." Booth grimaced, jumping out of his chair, and throwing Delia over his shoulder. "Well, if I'm getting yelled at, I'm taking you with me. Maybe Mama will see how cute you are and forgive me for whatever I did."_

_Jumping the last stair, he put Delia down and watched as she ran into the kitchen. He strolled into the room and leant against the doorframe._

_"You rang?"_

_His wife frowned and turned towards him, her pregnant belly brushing against the counter._

_"You know I don't know what that means, Booth."_

* * *

  
Booth sat up in his bed, heart racing. He really had to stop drinking that crap beer before bed.

* * *

_It's not even you, you see,_  
_It's part of my chemistry,_  
_This demon is killing me_  
_And oh, Christ, it's filling me_  
_It's this jealousy,_  
_This jealousy for you._

* * *

Sorry for the...two and a half month delay. School's much busier than I thought it would be, and I haven't really had the time to work on this. Even now, I honestly should\ve been working on my math homework XD But I forgot my textbook in my locker, so no homework.

Hopefully I can keep updating now, but I won't make any promises.

B


	6. Dream On

_October_

_

* * *

_

_She told me not to step on the cracks  
I told her not to fuss and relax  
Pretty little face stopped me in my tracks  
But now she sleeps with one eye open  
-Girl With One Eye, Florence and the Machine_

_

* * *

_

Booth shivered and yanked the thin cover up father than it already was. He was exhausted, but it was his own stupidity that kept him from sleeping. He spent night after night staring blankly at the canvas ceiling, torn between returning to the dreams that made his heart beat from both extreme happiness and terrible sadness, and protecting himself from the self deprecation that followed them. Tonight, however, Booth would not be able to cling to the edges of consciousness.

* * *

_"Dellie? Dellie, where are you?" Heart beating frantically in his chest, Booth pushed past another father, looking around desperately for his daughter. "Delia?"_

_"Daddy, look at all the candy I got!" He spun around, dropping to his knees as Delia ran towards him._

_"Delia Daesee Booth, where were you? You never go where I can't see you! The only time you let go of my hand is when you go to a door! Christ, Dellie, I thought someone kidnapped you."_

_Delia stared at her princess shoes, fingering the fabric of the sleeping beauty dress her Auntie Angela had made her. "Sorry, Daddy."_

_Booth sighed and pulled her into his arms._

_"Daddy's sorry, too, Dellie."_

_

* * *

_

Booth groaned and buried his face in his pillow. He didn't know why he was having the dreams, but he knew where the details came from. A conversation with Bones.

* * *

_"Bones, if you do…y'know, use my stuff…What would you name the kid?"_

_Brennan gave him a blank stare, not unlike the one she'd given him when he asked what she'd name a pig._

_"Well, if it was male, something that implies strength. Maybe Alexander. For a female, Delia. It was the name of a girl in my kindergarten class. I always loved her name, once I even, ah, told my parents to call me Delia."_

_Booth tried not to laugh, knowing that it would hurt her._

_"Really, Bones?"_

_She blushed. "Yes, Booth. My mother said she wouldn't because my middle name is Daessee, and Delia Daesee just didn't sound right to her."_

_

* * *

_

_Sorry it's a little late, and yes, I'm continuing the Delia Dreams. But I promise that next chapter won't be a dream._

_B  
_


End file.
